We've had problems with recent RV Travel newsletters. Our website has crashed twice in the last four weeks on Saturday morning, which is when most readers read newsletter. If the website goes down today (April 9) we will do our best to keep you updated of what's happening.
Next week (fingers crossed) we will be on our new server with a newly designed website. Our problems should be over.
If you landed on this page by mistake looking for today's RV Travel Newsletter, click here to read it.
UPDATES (Pacific time):
All okay as of Friday, April 8 at 11:45 pm
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Update Saturday, March 26, 2016
10:55 a.m., Pacific Time
RVtravel.com is a sick puppy today, Saturday, March 26, 2016. Everything was fine until about 9 a.m., when all of a sudden, the front page was taking a minute or two to load. At other times it would not load at all. Now (11:05). It's offline entirely.
This was a lousy time for this to happen. My essay this week is all about major changes taking place with our newsletters and website. I should be able to re-post it here by 11:15 a.m. (Pacific) this morning. I may also send it in an email later in the week for those readers who tried to read the issue today but couldn't.
Okay. . . got to find my essay to repost. Be right back.
Chuck
* * *
Okay, here it is (without photos or illustrations):
RVtravel.com is a sick puppy today, Saturday, March 26, 2016. Everything was fine until about 9 a.m., when all of a sudden, the front page was taking a minute or two to load. At other times it would not load at all. Now (11:05). It's offline entirely.
This was a lousy time for this to happen. My essay this week is all about major changes taking place with our newsletters and website. I should be able to re-post it here by 11:15 a.m. (Pacific) this morning. I may also send it in an email later in the week for those readers who tried to read the issue today but couldn't.
Okay. . . got to find my essay to repost. Be right back.
Chuck
* * *
Okay, here it is (without photos or illustrations):
Friday, March 25, 2016
Sign of the times: Grandma and Grandpa the potheads
The headline, as you can see, says "Laugh More. Live Longer." And there's Grandma and Grandpa smiling and laughing, rowing a boat! I mean, look at them! They aren't just happy, they're ridiculously happy!
But why, you ask? Is it because they're outdoors, getting some exercise? Is it because they love each other so much?
No. Not that. They're happy because they're stoned!
Look at the writing on the boat. "Recreational Marijuana." And below that the ad reads "Make It Your Mission to Enjoy Life A Little More Every Day!"
These happy seniors, ex-hippies perhaps, are senior potheads. Once, long ago, they may have been hippies who smoked pot and hoped the local cops wouldn't show! Now, no problem: in Washington, Colorado, Oregon and Alaska, recreational pot is legal!
I can choose from two stores within about 5 miles of my house. Another one is opening soon that I can walk to. Once there, I can buy a joint (a whole lot stronger than the wimpy stuff from back in the '60s) or pick up a marijuana brownie or cookie!
Who would have thought?
That ad cracks me up!
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Why I am more comfortable writing to my peers
Two weeks ago, in my essay in the RVtravel.com newsletter, I wrote that after much thought I had decided to focus my writing to an audience of my peers — those of the Baby Boom generation now in their 60s.
A recent RVtravel.com reader survey revealed that 94 percent of the readers of the newsletter are older than 54. I noted that I sometimes feel that those younger readers — more than a decade younger than me — grew up in a different world. The popular culture of their youth is different than mine.
A reader named Sam responded: “I’m a younger RVer, 50 years old, and been telling my other friends about your great site. I always look forward to reading it and you always have great information. Please don't give up on us younger RVers.”
I wrote back to tell Sam that there will always be plenty of useful information to readers of all ages. It’s just that I am most comfortable writing my essays for my peers, who better understand where I’m coming from. We have traveled through time during a dramatic, challenging, fascinating, confusing and even scary period of human history.
My experience, of course, was that of growing up in the 1950s in a white, middle-class family in a mostly all-white suburb of Los Angeles. My father was a hard-working executive, who had a few ulcers — common then, almost accepted as routine — an executive badge of courage. Like many of his generation, he had returned from World War II, where in his case he flew a B 24 Liberator on 35 missions over Germany. His mission when he returned home was to marry, buy a house in the suburbs and raise a family, providing to his children more than his parents had provided him.
So, that is where I come from. Many others, in at least white America, were raised in similar circumstances. My peers who came along a decade or two later entered into a different world. I was finishing up high school when today's 50-year-old was born.
Those Americans were toddlers in the turbulent '60s. They were not watching TV when Bobby Kennedy was shot on live television. They weren’t horrified when radio bulletins announced that Martin Luther King Jr. had been shot. They didn’t sit glued to their TV alongside their crying mother, waiting to learn if JFK would survive his gunshot wounds.
They weren’t an adult during the protests on college campuses for Women’s and Blacks' rights. They were not adults during the riots in Watts.
They were not young adults during the Vietnam War, when a very unpopular military draft took a lot of guys away from their lives, and ultimately snuffed their lives entirely — many of whom did not believe the war was just. They were not around when returning soldiers were treated (very unfairly) like second rate citizens, even spit on. Compare that with today.
A 50-year-old was nine when the last American was drafted into military service. He didn’t sit nervously by his radio to listen to live Vietnam-era draft lotteries to see if his number (birth date) would be selected, determining whether he would go to war or stay home if he wished.
Today's 50-year-old, and those younger, didn’t watch Elvis shake his pelvis or the electrifying, long-haired Beatles perform live on the Ed Sullivan Show. They didn’t learn how to kiss a girl from watching Ricky Nelson on the Ozzie and Harriet Show. They didn’t grow up thinking family life in America was like that of Ward, June, Wally and the Beaver. They didn’t grow up watching black and white TV.
Unlike me, when they were children their doctor did not charge their parents extra for a house call — $8 instead of $5 for an office visit.
They didn’t have air raid drills in their elementary school, where they ducked under their desk (like that would really protect them from the blast of an atomic bomb). They weren’t a teenager during the Cuban Missile Crisis when my peers and I went to bed frightened half to death that we would not survive the night.
They were toddlers when my peers and I sat spellbound at our TVs as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the surface of moon, biting our nails that they would make it. Nor did they scan the skies years earlier to see Sputnik, the first satellite, launched by our enemy The Soviet Union.
They were still kids during Watergate. Today’s 50-year-old was eight when Nixon stepped into the Presidential helicopter and waved farewell to America and his political career.
They were not camping on their own when camping was free in all U.S. Forest Service campgrounds. I remember as a summer fire fighter in 1968 putting up little boxes at campsites for campers to put in a dollar to stay. When I was young there was no such thing as a motorhome. The first Winnebago was sold the same year as today’s 50-year-old was born.
I grew up in a town with a Main Street. Malls were years away, Wal-Mart ever further into the future. My buddies and I could get into the local movie theater for a quarter if we got there before six. We could watch both films, and then again if we wished.
Someone who’s 50 today was not an adult before copy machines, faxes and answering machines. To make copies of what we wrote, we used carbon paper typed on clunky manual typewriters. By the time today’s 50-year-old entered the workplace, computers had debuted.
Most of my peers were 50 before we owned our first computer. If we had a few hundred dollars we could buy an external hard drive with a whopping 20 megabytes of extra storage. We grew up mailing letters. Email? What was that? If we wanted speedy delivery we spent a few cents more for an Airmail stamp. Fed Ex? Years away.
Today’s 50-year-old could use a hand calculator to solve math problems in school. We could only dream of such devices.
But, yes, Sam and I are both RVers and thus have one big shared interest. It’s just that as a writer, now in my “senior years,” I am most comfortable reflecting on what's happening with me as an older person and the world in a way that readers only my age can truly appreciate. The people who have traveled through time with me will understand my thoughts far better than those younger. Like I said in my essay, there are plenty of RVers in their 30s, 40s and early 50s who write on the Web, who can speak to their peers far better based on their shared interests and experiences.
A recent RVtravel.com reader survey revealed that 94 percent of the readers of the newsletter are older than 54. I noted that I sometimes feel that those younger readers — more than a decade younger than me — grew up in a different world. The popular culture of their youth is different than mine.
A reader named Sam responded: “I’m a younger RVer, 50 years old, and been telling my other friends about your great site. I always look forward to reading it and you always have great information. Please don't give up on us younger RVers.”
I wrote back to tell Sam that there will always be plenty of useful information to readers of all ages. It’s just that I am most comfortable writing my essays for my peers, who better understand where I’m coming from. We have traveled through time during a dramatic, challenging, fascinating, confusing and even scary period of human history.
 |
| My mother and our trailer, late '50s. |
So, that is where I come from. Many others, in at least white America, were raised in similar circumstances. My peers who came along a decade or two later entered into a different world. I was finishing up high school when today's 50-year-old was born.
They weren’t an adult during the protests on college campuses for Women’s and Blacks' rights. They were not adults during the riots in Watts.
They were not young adults during the Vietnam War, when a very unpopular military draft took a lot of guys away from their lives, and ultimately snuffed their lives entirely — many of whom did not believe the war was just. They were not around when returning soldiers were treated (very unfairly) like second rate citizens, even spit on. Compare that with today.
A 50-year-old was nine when the last American was drafted into military service. He didn’t sit nervously by his radio to listen to live Vietnam-era draft lotteries to see if his number (birth date) would be selected, determining whether he would go to war or stay home if he wished.
Today's 50-year-old, and those younger, didn’t watch Elvis shake his pelvis or the electrifying, long-haired Beatles perform live on the Ed Sullivan Show. They didn’t learn how to kiss a girl from watching Ricky Nelson on the Ozzie and Harriet Show. They didn’t grow up thinking family life in America was like that of Ward, June, Wally and the Beaver. They didn’t grow up watching black and white TV.
Unlike me, when they were children their doctor did not charge their parents extra for a house call — $8 instead of $5 for an office visit.
They didn’t have air raid drills in their elementary school, where they ducked under their desk (like that would really protect them from the blast of an atomic bomb). They weren’t a teenager during the Cuban Missile Crisis when my peers and I went to bed frightened half to death that we would not survive the night.They were toddlers when my peers and I sat spellbound at our TVs as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the surface of moon, biting our nails that they would make it. Nor did they scan the skies years earlier to see Sputnik, the first satellite, launched by our enemy The Soviet Union.
They were still kids during Watergate. Today’s 50-year-old was eight when Nixon stepped into the Presidential helicopter and waved farewell to America and his political career.
They were not camping on their own when camping was free in all U.S. Forest Service campgrounds. I remember as a summer fire fighter in 1968 putting up little boxes at campsites for campers to put in a dollar to stay. When I was young there was no such thing as a motorhome. The first Winnebago was sold the same year as today’s 50-year-old was born.
I grew up in a town with a Main Street. Malls were years away, Wal-Mart ever further into the future. My buddies and I could get into the local movie theater for a quarter if we got there before six. We could watch both films, and then again if we wished.
Most of my peers were 50 before we owned our first computer. If we had a few hundred dollars we could buy an external hard drive with a whopping 20 megabytes of extra storage. We grew up mailing letters. Email? What was that? If we wanted speedy delivery we spent a few cents more for an Airmail stamp. Fed Ex? Years away.
Today’s 50-year-old could use a hand calculator to solve math problems in school. We could only dream of such devices.
But, yes, Sam and I are both RVers and thus have one big shared interest. It’s just that as a writer, now in my “senior years,” I am most comfortable reflecting on what's happening with me as an older person and the world in a way that readers only my age can truly appreciate. The people who have traveled through time with me will understand my thoughts far better than those younger. Like I said in my essay, there are plenty of RVers in their 30s, 40s and early 50s who write on the Web, who can speak to their peers far better based on their shared interests and experiences.
Friday, February 26, 2016
The week that was: Update Feb. 26, 2016
It was another busy week fine tuning and streamlining the business side of RVtravel.com, adapting to the new, much more challenging world of publishing on the Internet. I'll have more to say in two or three weeks.
The redesign of the RVtravel.com website continues. We created it in its present form about 10 years ago and it's out of date. If it were a six cylinder car, it would be operating on the equivalent of four cylinders: it gets you where you need to go, but not very fast and not very efficiently. Once we are done it will be much easier to find information, and the site will look ten times better (maybe 100 times!).
I spent five or six hours this week polishing my skills on our Tricaster, a specialized computer used in live (and taped) video production. It enables us to use up to four cameras at once in our small studio, switching from one camera to another at the push of a button. It's an amazing machine, an entry-level device that is used by video production companies and even some small TV stations for their newscasts.
Our first regular production will be an online game show which I will host. Gail will be the co-star — kinda the "Vanna" of the operation! We'll start off weekly and see how it goes. I am very excited about it. Many RV-related companies have donated products, some worth more than $200. We should have the first show up and running within a few weeks.
Our YouTube channel has reached 11 million views, which makes it one of the largest on YouTube about RVing. Only a few other channels have more views, and I figure with all our new "mini" shows we may take the lead we once held. But I don't care: I just want to have fun with the studio and produce a lot of really helpful content for RVers.
By May, I should have a good handle on the business side of RVtravel.com in its new, improved and streamlined format. Gail and I plan another cross-country RV trip this summer to the giant Hershey (Pennsylvania) RV Show in mid-September and two or three camping weekends in the Northwest. It will be great to get away without having to worry too much about business stuff back home.
On a personal level, the cherry trees in my neighborhood are flowering and spring is in the air. But here in the Northwest we're still a few months away from consistent summer type weather. For awhile, more rain. . . Still, when it the sky is clear here now, it's spectacular. From Edmonds, we look over Puget Sound to the majestic and now snow-capped Olympic mountains.
Also, I bought a parakeet recently. His (or her) name is Shakey (too early to tell its sex yet), which is what I name all my parakeets. I've had four or five through the years. He's a friendly little fellow who just wants to sit on my shoulder all day long. Parakeets are wonderful, very social pets and if you are lucky they will talk. Did you know that parakeets are the most talkative birds of the parrot family? My sister, who lives nearby, is a bird nut so when I go away she is happy to babysit. She also names all her parakeets Shakey. I'll tell you the story some day.
That's all for now. See you next week.
The redesign of the RVtravel.com website continues. We created it in its present form about 10 years ago and it's out of date. If it were a six cylinder car, it would be operating on the equivalent of four cylinders: it gets you where you need to go, but not very fast and not very efficiently. Once we are done it will be much easier to find information, and the site will look ten times better (maybe 100 times!).
 | |
| The Tricaster |
 |
| Me, rehearsing our mini game show. |
Our YouTube channel has reached 11 million views, which makes it one of the largest on YouTube about RVing. Only a few other channels have more views, and I figure with all our new "mini" shows we may take the lead we once held. But I don't care: I just want to have fun with the studio and produce a lot of really helpful content for RVers.
By May, I should have a good handle on the business side of RVtravel.com in its new, improved and streamlined format. Gail and I plan another cross-country RV trip this summer to the giant Hershey (Pennsylvania) RV Show in mid-September and two or three camping weekends in the Northwest. It will be great to get away without having to worry too much about business stuff back home.
Also, I bought a parakeet recently. His (or her) name is Shakey (too early to tell its sex yet), which is what I name all my parakeets. I've had four or five through the years. He's a friendly little fellow who just wants to sit on my shoulder all day long. Parakeets are wonderful, very social pets and if you are lucky they will talk. Did you know that parakeets are the most talkative birds of the parrot family? My sister, who lives nearby, is a bird nut so when I go away she is happy to babysit. She also names all her parakeets Shakey. I'll tell you the story some day.
That's all for now. See you next week.
Thursday, February 18, 2016
A message to the readers of RVtravel.com
I'm writing here because I don't think it's right of me to take a third week in a row to explain in the RV Travel newsletter why I previously announced I would quit writing the opening essay on a weekly basis.
Last week I asked readers to take a survey of how important they felt it was for me to write the essay rather than those of guest contributors.
I really didn't know what to expect. But as you can see to the right, of the 1,772 readers who had responded by Thursday morning, about two-thirds said it was somewhat important or very important that I continue writing the essay.
So I'll try my best to write regularly. Knowing so many readers enjoy what I write makes me feel good, and honored.
I had hoped to put some extra time into tending to business matters, because, frankly, it's a lot more challenging to publish online today than it was even five years ago. There's also much more competition.
As I said before, half of you are reading on a tablet or smart phone now, and that has had a big impact in our revenue. I won't go into details, because it would take too much space and would probably be boring.
I also want to devote more time to our video projects in the small TV-like studio we've built. We are working on about four different shows, all short and on different subjects related to RVing. I'm very excited about a new game show, which will be sort of like a TV game show except only a couple of minutes long. There will be great prizes that RVers will find fun or useful.
Instead of writing more here I decided to sit down in front of a video camera and explain to you a little more about what is going on with me and RVtravel.com. You can just click the video below to play. There is nothing fancy about this, just me talking to a camera, rambling a lot. So if you have a little time on your hands and would like to learn a bit more about RVtravel.com and what goes on behind the scenes, then please click the video. I try to explain some things that I've had trouble expressing in the 500 words available in the opening essay of the Saturday newsletter.
P.S. If you would like to become a voluntary subscriber to RVtravel.com you can do by clicking here. I mentioned this in the video.
I really didn't know what to expect. But as you can see to the right, of the 1,772 readers who had responded by Thursday morning, about two-thirds said it was somewhat important or very important that I continue writing the essay.
So I'll try my best to write regularly. Knowing so many readers enjoy what I write makes me feel good, and honored.
I had hoped to put some extra time into tending to business matters, because, frankly, it's a lot more challenging to publish online today than it was even five years ago. There's also much more competition.
As I said before, half of you are reading on a tablet or smart phone now, and that has had a big impact in our revenue. I won't go into details, because it would take too much space and would probably be boring.
I also want to devote more time to our video projects in the small TV-like studio we've built. We are working on about four different shows, all short and on different subjects related to RVing. I'm very excited about a new game show, which will be sort of like a TV game show except only a couple of minutes long. There will be great prizes that RVers will find fun or useful.
Instead of writing more here I decided to sit down in front of a video camera and explain to you a little more about what is going on with me and RVtravel.com. You can just click the video below to play. There is nothing fancy about this, just me talking to a camera, rambling a lot. So if you have a little time on your hands and would like to learn a bit more about RVtravel.com and what goes on behind the scenes, then please click the video. I try to explain some things that I've had trouble expressing in the 500 words available in the opening essay of the Saturday newsletter.
P.S. If you would like to become a voluntary subscriber to RVtravel.com you can do by clicking here. I mentioned this in the video.
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Mice in your RV? Lion poop to the rescue!
Through the years, we've written about a dozen ways to keep mice, squirrels and other rodents out of your RV. Some probably work, some probably don't. Nobody seems to agree on the absolutely best way.
Well, maybe this is IT! There's one way to keep these pests (and even bigger ones like possums and bears) away from your RV according to an RVer named Jeff Schwartz, who outlined his method in a comment to our YouTube video "How to keep mice out of your RV." We doubt you have heard of this technique before. Here, shortened for brevity, is what Schwartz wrote:
"There is one known fool proof, usually free, way to keep all animals (mice, cats, dogs, possums, bears, etc.) away from your home or RV! Go to your local zoo and ask for some lion or tiger poop and line your property with it. Zoos will usually give you all you want. It works every time. Carry it home in garbage bags.
Just spread it lightly where you do not want animals to go and they will all stay away forever. I have seen neighborhood dogs (several times) walk around my property. They will no longer cross a line of lion poop that I laid out about a month ago. Best of all there is absolutely no smell for humans!
I didn't believe it until I saw it work — 100 percent of the time. Try it — you will be amazed. I even tested it with cockroaches and they turned around when they came to the line of poop. Nothing alive will cross that line!
But be careful if you have pets. My dog will no longer get into my Blazer because I spilled the lion poop in the very back about six months ago (I have since had the interior cleaned). My dog still will not come close to my car."
"There is one known fool proof, usually free, way to keep all animals (mice, cats, dogs, possums, bears, etc.) away from your home or RV! Go to your local zoo and ask for some lion or tiger poop and line your property with it. Zoos will usually give you all you want. It works every time. Carry it home in garbage bags.
Just spread it lightly where you do not want animals to go and they will all stay away forever. I have seen neighborhood dogs (several times) walk around my property. They will no longer cross a line of lion poop that I laid out about a month ago. Best of all there is absolutely no smell for humans!
I didn't believe it until I saw it work — 100 percent of the time. Try it — you will be amazed. I even tested it with cockroaches and they turned around when they came to the line of poop. Nothing alive will cross that line!
But be careful if you have pets. My dog will no longer get into my Blazer because I spilled the lion poop in the very back about six months ago (I have since had the interior cleaned). My dog still will not come close to my car."
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